Un chien dans un jeu de quilles (1983) - film review

Joseph Cohen is a small-scale farmer in Brittany who just manages to eke out a living.  When his landlord, Alexandre, decides to terminate his lease, Joseph has no other choice but to turn to his stepbrother, Pierre, whom he has not seen for years.  Pierre, a Parisian psychologist, has nothing in common with his stepbrother but wastes no time coming to his defence.  But will they manage to change Alexandre’s mind or will they merely make matters worse...?

Sandwiched between two of his most successful comedies of the 1980s - La Chèvre (1981) and Les Compères (1983) - Pierre Richard starred in this more downbeat rural comedy, reprising his successful double act with Jean Carmet - the duo had previously worked together on Le Grand blond avec une chaussure noire (1972).  Both actors have an uphill job trying to invigorate this stilted comedy, which relies far too heavily on dated stereotypes and clumsily executed sight gags to be remotely funny.  Whilst the film makes an agreeable change from the facile comedies that prevailed in the early 1980s, and is reasonably well directed by Bernard Guillou, the lacklustre screenplay and lack of decent jokes prevent it from being anything special.  Once seen, Un chien dans un jeu de quilles is very quickly forgotten.

© filmsdefrance.com 2012

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